Emirates Float Glass (EFG) LLC, set up by Dubai Investments PJSC, has broken ground on the site of its new float plant, which will be built on a 320,000 square meter plot at the Industrial City of Abu…
Emirates Float Glass (EFG) LLC, set up by Dubai Investments PJSC, has broken ground on the site of its new float plant, which will be built on a 320,000 square meter plot at the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD 2). The ground breaking ceremony on 14 February 2006 was attended by dignitaries, clients and suppliers including glass processors, fabricators, building developers, consultants and contractors. Khalid Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Investments thanked the support provided by His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of Higher Corporation of the specialized Economic Zone (HCSEZ) and the management of ICAD for their help in expediting the building work on the project. The float glass plant, being built at a cost of USD 193 million, will have an annual capacity of about 160,000 tons of architectural, automotive, pyrolytic coated and special products. IANUA of Italy is the turnkey engineering contractor for the project. Since 1975, IANUA has been involved in designing and building machinery and plants for glass processing world-wide. Emirates Float Glass has entered into a technical partnership with PPG Industries, a global supplier of glass, coatings, fiberglass and chemicals with about 50 production facilities in the United States and about 108 worldwide. Emirates Float Glass will be part of the glass holding company being formed by Dubai Investments. The holding company would include a family of glass manufacturing and processing companies as well as glass products trading firms. Besides EFG, the glass holding company currently includes Emirates Glass, Lumiglass and Saudi American Glass. Emirates Float Glass will be able to supply these companies with 120,000 tonnes of glass a year. Kalban said, “With the formation of the glass holding company, we plan to consolidate our experience in the glass industry. We have already started working on the second float glass line which we plan to expand by setting up a number of related manufacturing facilities including additional float line, coating line, mirror line and patterned glass line, making it the market leader in glass business across the region”. “Dubai Investments is spearheading the industrial development in UAE by setting up and operating a number of major industries in diversified sectors. Currently, the company has a portfolio of over 30 production facilities in the country”. Kalban reiterated that “the project is of strategic importance to the UAE“s industrial development. We have selected this project in line with the objectives of our Government to focus on rapid Industrialisation and Economic development of the region”.